The Spanish government has agreed to finance a Turkish State Railways (TCDD) rehabilitation initiative. The $400 million loan will fund the re-construction of the Ankara – Istanbul railway line, reported Anadolu. Traveling time between the two cities will be reduced from seven hours to four hours.

TCDD was founded as a state company in 1927 by the new Turkish Republic to take over existing railways in Anatolia and to develop them in accordance with the needs of the country. This past August, the Turkish government published a tender for the construction of a new $2.5 billion subway line through Istanbul, including an underwater Bosphorus tube passage. — (menareport.com)